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Hi everyone, and welcome back to Britain Under the Microscope Advanced. In our previous episode we confused you a lot with the idea of the British government and how our government is formed.
Mhm.
Thanks a lot for tuning into this episode where we’re probably going to try and confuse you even more. Hi, Lulu.
Hi, Anlan. I'm sure I get thoroughly confused. So I have a question first.
Yes.
We were talking about the two houses. Now let's talk about the Prime Minister.
Uh, yes.
I always wondered, see, when you hear president or chairman, you know they're the top guy.
Yeah.
But Prime Minister, it’s prime ministers like top minister, which means he essentially is still a minister.
Yeah. Or she.
Yes, she or he. Sorry being unintentionally sexist, but he or she is still a Prime Minister.
That's right.
Is that where the word comes from?
The idea is the Prime Minister is a First Among Equals, so the Prime Minister acts as the leader of the government in the name of the King.
Uh, it’s the representative.
Somewhat like a representative, but essentially the Prime Minister is acting within the blessing of the King or Queen.
I see, and how long have you been having Prime Ministers?
Since the 18th century. Originally, we had a Prime Minister because they were, I should say, representing the King, because we had a King, King George I, who was German and couldn't speak English.
So the first Prime Minister was like a glorified translator?
Uh, pretty much,
Wow.
George I and Robert Walpole, his name was Robert Walpole, the first Prime Minister, they had to speak in Latin, so because King George I couldn't learn English. He was a bit older at this time. They had a prime minister.
I see. I see.
Now the Prime Minister lives, as you all know, at No.10 Downing Street which is close to the government departments in White Hall and the Houses of Parliament.
And what about those parliamentary debates that we constantly see on TV, sometimes get really heated and people were shouting, they're basically booing the Prime Minister.
Oh, yeah. That is very traditional.
Oh.
What you're probably seeing is what we call Prime Minister's Question Time.
Okay.
Now Prime Minister's Question Time is when any MP can ask the Prime Minister a question and the Prime Minister has to defend their stance, or sometimes attack the stance of the Opposition, or the leader of the Opposition in particular.
It looks brutal. It looks really… they look really aggressive, the people who are asking questions, the Opposition.
Yeah.